Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing (PHWFF) is pleased to present its highest honor, the Patriot Award, to The Orvis Company of Sunderland, Vermont. The much-coveted award recognizes the sustained support Orvis has provided to PHWFF’s mission and activities.

LaPlata, MD–Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing (PHWFF) is pleased to present its highest honor, the Patriot Award, to The Orvis Company of Sunderland, Vermont. The much-coveted award recognizes the sustained support Orvis has provided to PHWFF’s mission and activities.

The Patriot Award will be presented to Jim Lepage, The Orvis Company’s VP of Rod and Tackle/Sporting Traditions by retired Navy Captain Ed Nicholson, Founder and President of PHWFF, at the organization’s 6th Annual 2-Fly Tournament dinner on April 28th, 2012, at Rose River Farm in Syria, Virginia.

The Patriot Award is award is presented each year in appreciation of an individual or an organization’s dedication and commitment to the rehabilitation of our wounded active duty service men and women, and disabled veterans.

“Shortly after Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing’s inception in 2005, our group was introduced to the Orvis Company and solicited their support, which was immediately forthcoming,” said retired U.S. Navy Capt. Ed Nicholson, Founder and President of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. “From that initial introduction, until the present, Orvis has been a significant contributor to Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing and has, to a large degree, been responsible for the expansion and growth of our organization.”

Thanks to the encouragement that support brought to our programs, PHWFF today has 127 programs in 45 states, led and staffed by volunteers. Nicholson adds that Orvis has gone to great effort to meet the needs of PHWFF.

“During our early years as a fledgling organization, Orvis provided us a monetary grant and, at their Headquarters, their executives offered invaluable business advice,” Nicholson writes. “Over the last eight years, the Orvis fly fishing product line has been discounted for us and, on a regular basis, generous in-kind contributions have been made available.”

That product support is also coupled with the inclusion of PHWFF in Orvis’ Affiliate Program, in which Orvis purchases initiated from the Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing website earn the organization added revenue.

“Orvis has underwritten Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing’s annual Orvis participant recognition program. The 28 most-deserving disabled veterans are recognized and awarded an Orvis rod and reel set,” noted Nicholson. “Additionally, we are regularly invited to publicize our program in their many retail stores during Orvis Days, and innovative rod swap programs have resulted in the donation of rods to our organization,” he added.

Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing would like to express its deepest thanks to The Orvis Company on behalf of its volunteers and participants, injured active duty service members and disabled veterans, for Orvis’ role in helping our nation’s heroes find rest and recovery through fly fishing and fly tying.